Safety device



Aug. g3, 1929. T. H. OPPENHEM E-r AL 1,724,613

SAFETY DEVICE I Filed Sept. 14, 1927 2 Sheets-Sheet l y? ttozneql Aug- 13, 1929 T. H. oPPENHElM ET AL 1,724,613

SAFETY DEVICE A Filed Sept. 14, 1927 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 f gwuentou Patented Aug. lf3, '19?90 m les. il 'nel il THEODGRE H. OEPENHEIM AND BERNARD SELHORST, OF COLDWATER, O-IO, ASSIGN- ORS T THE NEW DEA SREADEE G0., GF CLDVYATER, OHO, A CORPORATION 0F j OHIO.

SAFETY DEVICE.

Application filed September 14, 1927. Serial No. 219,502.

Our present invention is a safety deviceas yclearly shown in Figs. 1 and 2. To the by the use of which machinery will be automatically stopped when for any reason the operator leaves his position. rlhe invention is intended more particularly for use upon corn husking and similar machines but may be employed wherever a clutch is provided to couple a driven member with a driving member, and the object of the invention is to provide mechanism whereby after the clutch has been closed it will be locked in the closed position so that the machinery will operate continuously until the clutch has been manually released or the operator leaves the platform upon which he is standing and when he does leave the platform the clutch will be automatically opened. The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings and consists in certain novel features which will be hereinafter first fully described and then particularly defined in the appended claims.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a. portion. of a corn-husking` machine having` the invention applied thereto;

Fig. 2 is anv enlarged transverse section of the machine frame showing the clutch-controlling lever and the parts immediately adjacent the same-in side elevation;

lig. 3 is any enlarged horizontal section on the line 3 3 of Fig. l1;

Fig. l is a detail perspective view of the latch and the parts cooperating therewith;

Fig. 5 is an elevation of a portion of the hopper;

Fig. 6 is a detail perspective view of a portion of the clutch lever and the means for actuating the same;

Fig. 7 is a detail showing another form of latch.

The husking machine 1 may be of any desired form and includes a shaft 2 which drives some of the working elements and is equipped with a. lo-ose pulley 3 with which cooperates a clutch cone l whereby the pul-V ley may be locked to the shaft. A band 5 is trained around the pulley and transmits motion thereto from a main driving shaft 6. Carrying the cone clutch member l and having a pin and slot connection therewith, as shown at 7, is a controlling lever 8 which is fulcrumed upon a bracket 9 above the pulley and extends above and below the same,

upper end of the lever 8 is attached a rod 10 which extends across the hopper, indicated at 11, and is connected at its inner end with a'hand lever 12 projecting forwardly over the hopper, as will be understood, so that by shifting the hand lever in an obvious manner he clutch-controlling lever willbe rocked to close lor open the clutch. A re tractile spring 13 is also attached to the upper extremity of the clutch-controlling lever and to a bracket or other fixed inember upon the hopper, as indicated at 14.-. Pivoted at the lower end of the clutch-controlling lever is a latch 15 which extends inwardly therefrom and has its inner end beveled, as shown'at 16,l and is provided'in its lower edge adjacent its inner end with a notch 1'?. Bracket plates 30 are secured to the opposite sides vofv the lever and project laterally therefrom, the latch being pivoted to and between the projecting portions of said plates, as shown in Figs. 3 and hand it will be noted, upon reference to Fig. 4, that vthe pivoted end of the latch is beveled in its upper portion, as at 31, whereby the upward movement of the latch is accommodated while the lower portion, 32, of the end edge is at a right angle to the bottom edge and may abut the edge of the lever whereby the latch will be prevented from 'dropping too far to operate. A keeper and guide 18 is also secured to the lever and consists of a plate offset, yas shown in Fig. 4i, to engage over the vertical flange or web of a lateral arm 19 secured to and extending outwardly from the frame of the machine, and upon this arm or bracket is secured a loop or eye 2O which registers with the notch 17 in the latch when the latch is in active position. Through this eye orfloop plays the rear end of a locking rod21 which is slidably supported in the eye and extends forwardly to be connected to an angle lever 22 mounted upon the frame at ythe front end thereof, the rod being jointed at an intermediate point of its length, as 'shown' at 23, to accommodate the relative angular relation of the parts during operation. A sleeve 2d is carried by the bracket or arm 19 in alineinent with'the loop or eye 20 so as to aid in supporting the rod 21 and also furnish an abutment for a spring which is coiled Aaround the rod between said sleeve and a collar or other abutment 26 secured upon the rod. The front end of the rod 21 is pivoted to the lower depending arm of the angle lever 22 and the other arm of said lever projects forwardly and has the lower end of a link 27 pivoted thereto. Pivotally mounted upon the frame of the machine above the angle lever 22 is a platform 28 upon which the operator stands when the machine is in operation and the upper end of the link 27 is pivoted to the platform, as shown, so that when the platform isV depressed the rod 21 will be pushed rearwardly to engage in the notch 17 of the latch and thereby hold the clutch in closed position.

Assuming the machine to be in operation, the platform 23 will beV in the lowered position shown by dotted lines in Fig. 1, and to prevent the platform dropping below said position a chain or other restraining device, indicated at 29, may be provided and attached at one end to the platform and at the other end to the machine frame. When the platform is lowered, the angle lever 22 will be rocked so that the rod 21 is pushed rearwardly and will be in position to engage the notch 17. When the operator initially takes his position upon the platform, the clutch will be open and the lower end of the controlling` lever 8 will be at the outer limit of its movement with the latch 15 disposed outwardly with respect to the rod 21. After assuming his position upon the platform, the operator shifts the hand lever 12 so that the controlling lever 8 will be rocked to throw the clutch in and this movement of the controlling lever will, of course, carry the latch 15 inwardly, the inner beveled end of the same riding over the rod 2l and the notch -17 dropping into engagement with the rod. Should the operator leave the platform,r the spring 25 will immediately eX- pand Aso as to withdraw the rod 21 kfrom the notch 17 and the spring 13 will then at once contract so as to rock the clutch-controlling lever 8 and open the clutch, the machinery being thus automatically stopped whenever the operato-r may leave the platform. When the operator resumes his position upon the platform, the clutch will remain open inasmuch as the spring 13 will be contracted and the clutch will not be closed' until the operator shifts thehand lever 12 to throw the clutch in.

In Fig. 7 is shown a simpler form of latch which is very eflicient but costs less than the first-described form. The clutchcontrolling lever 33 is mounted and operates in the same manner as the lever 8 but the latch 34 is slidably mounted on the lower end of the lever to move vertically thereon, and its lower end is beveled, as at 35, so that, in the clutch-closing movement yof the lever, it will ride over the trip or locking rod 36 and drop into position at the side of the rod to be held against-return movement. A stop collar 37 is secured on the lever within an opening 38 in the latch, and a spring 39 is coiled around the lever between said collar and the lower wall of the opening to yieldably hold the latch in its lowest position, the descent of vthe latch, being limited by contact of the upper wall of the opening with the stop collar.

From the foregoing description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, it will be seen that we'have provided an exceedingly simple, compact and ineX- pensive mechanism which may be readily applied to any machine and by which the working elements will be automatically and instantly stopped whenever the operator leaves his position, and they will remain inoperative until after the operatorvhas resumed his position and manually throws in the clutch.

I Having thus described the invention, wer

claim ling lever, a latch carried by the lever, a locking rod adapted to engage the latch and hold the clutch closed, said rod being normally free of the latch, means for rocking the lever to close the clutch and means whereby upon withdrawal of the locking rod the clutch-controlling lever will be actuated to open the clutch.

2. The combintion with a clutch-controlling lever, and means for manually actuating the lever to close the clutch, of a latch carried by the lever, a locking rod for engaging the latch to hold the clutch closed,` means whereby the locking rod will be projected to engage the latch when an `operator is in position and will be withdrawn when the operator leaves his position, and a retractile spring attached to and operating upon the clutch-controlling lever, in opposition to the first-mentioned means to open the clutch when the latch is released.

3. The combination of a normally inactive controlling element, a locking rod connected with said element to move into active position therewith, means yieldably holding the rod and said lelement in inactive position, a clutch-controlling lever, av latch carried by the leverto be engaged by said rod whereby the clutch may be held closed, means for manually shifting the lever to clutch-closing position, and a spring acting on the lever in `opposition to said manual means for opening the clutch when the latch is released from the locking rod.

4. The combination with a machine frame, and -a movable platform mounted thereon, of a locking rod operatively connected with the platform and supported on the machine frame, means for yieldably holding the rod and the platform in inoperative position, a clutch-controlling lever,

llO

a latch carried by said lever and having its free end beveled to ride over the locking rod and provided With a notch to engage said rod when the rod has been shifted to active position by movement of the platform, means for manually shifting the levez` to clutch-closing position, and means for automatically shifting the lever into clutchopening position upon Withdrawal of the p locking rod from the latch. c 10 In testimony whereof We affix oui' signa- BERNARD SELHORST [1.. s.] [L s.] 

